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"Hey, Red."
Lita turned at the sound of her friend's voice to face him.
"Hey, Chris." She smiled, which wasn't difficult, given what had happened mere moments earlier. Mayhem had seemed seconds from erupting, but not much had happened after all. In due time, though, she told herself.
"Can I talk to you?" Jericho asked. He glanced around furtively, as though ensuring that nobody was watching or overhearing them.
The redhead arched an eyebrow, confused. She wanted to know why Chris was acting so strangely.
"Yeah, sure," she said. She followed her bandmate to the small backstage room, which was currently deserted. He closed the door behind them. "What's up?"
"You tell me," the blond man said.
Lita shook her head.
"I'm not following you, Chris."
He rolled his blue eyes heavenward.
"Come on, Red... This place is like a ticking time bomb. What the hell is going on with you and O'Haire?"
Amy felt as though her marrow had frozen - could he know? No, he couldn't possibly know about that night. She couldn't even find her voice.
"You guys hired that brunette chick, didn't you? To break up Torrie and the big dumb gorilla, right?" he demanded.
Again, Lita stared at Jericho with surprise, this time coupled with relief. Was the man psychic? How did he know?
"How did you... Dawn Marie is a friend of Sean's," she said dumbly.
"Oh, please, Amy... Give me a little more credit," he said. He gave her a slightly stern look.
All of a sudden, the guitarist was feeling uncomfortable. The last thing she wanted was for him to be angry with her.
"Sorry," she murmured.
"It's not that I'm against what you're doing, don't get me wrong," the blond man said. "But jeez, Red... Why didn't you tell me? It would have been nice to be let in on it!" He grinned devilishly at her.
Amy couldn't help but laugh.
"Sorry about that, Chris. The only one we let in on it was Adam."
"Well, that figures," he smirked. "Steph and I were talking about it earlier. She doesn't think what you're doing is a good idea."
Lita wasn't surprised by that. It was only natural that the people in charge would feel that way. She knew Flair would be pissed and hoped he wouldn't find out at all.
"Well, Torrie's caused so much trouble around here. Sean and I just thought it was time for a little payback," she said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I know. I got you." He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "But I gotta say... I bet even if they somehow break up after this, that big dumb animal will still go on rampages," Chris said. His hand clenched into a fist at the memory of Batista attacking him recently, and for nothing more than stupid insecure jealousy.
"God, I hope not!" the redhead said, wrinkling her nose. "Anyway, if you want to let Christian in on this, you're welcome to."
Jericho gave her an incredulous look.
"Christian? Mr. Bigmouth? I don't know about that, Red."
"Well, I doubt he'd spill the beans to anyone in Evolution," she reasoned.
"Maybe not, but it could still get around to them."
"True... Eh, oh well." Lita laughed, then said, "Come on, let's get out of here before Adam and Steph start to think we're having a sleazy encounter in here." She bit her tongue as soon as those words left her lips - not because of embarrassment but thanks to the reminder that Edge had once had one with Torrie in that very room.
Jericho chuckled, putting up his hands.
"Hey, an encounter with me might be sleazy, but it's also something you'd never, ever forget!" he cracked.
"Whatever," the redhead quipped with a laugh she couldn't contain. "How the hell does Steph put up with you?"
They were back on the main club floor, and Amy immediately saw O'Haire and Dawn Marie. They were a ways back from the stage, talking in hushed tones. The brunette noticed her studying them and smiled, raising a hand to wave.
Before she could make her way over, a strong arm encircled her from behind. She glanced quickly over her shoulder to see her boyfriend.
"Where were you?" he whispered, his breath pleasantly warm as he spoke softly into her ear.
"Just talking with Chris. He figured out what was going on with Dawn."
"I see... And we're not planning on telling Christian, are we?" he asked.
"He's a bigmouth," she replied.
Adam burst out with laughter.
"That he is. If you tell Trish, it'll be okay - she knows how to keep a secret."
The redhead gave him a sly little smirk as she turned in his embrace, fully facing him.
"And what about you, mister?" How good are you at keeping a secret?" she teased.
"Oh, I'm the best."
She stared at him as if he were an alien.
"Yeah? The 'best,' huh?"
"You better believe it, lady," he retorted. With that, he gathered her closer for a kiss.